Charles Buchinsky was born into a Luthuanian family in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania. His father was a coal miner who died when Charles was 10. By age 16, the young Charles was working in a mine as well, with bleak prospects. In 1943 he was drafted, and served in the 760th Flexible Gunnery Training Squadron, both in the states and on the island of Guam. After the war, odd jobs brought him in contact with actors, and in 1949 he studied at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Bronson landed bit parts in low budget movies, uncredited at the beginning, and sometimes credited as Buchinsky. In 1953 he played the part of Igor in House of Wax, and the following year, the role of Hondo, an Indian, in Apache. He landed his first lead in Roger Corman's 1958 crime film Machine Gun Kelly. It was formulaic but for what it was, still a decent movie. Following that, he became a staple in the action genre, with very good parts in The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963), and The Dirty Dozen (1967) -- all films that have stood the test of time. But it is odd to see him playing a beatnik in The Sandpiper (1965), a Taylor/Burton romantic drama.

Above all, Bronson is best known for the the five Death Wish films, of which the first three are directed by Michael Winner. His character, Paul Kersey, is an architect whose wife is murdered and daughter is raped by punks. Kersey becomes a vigilante, hunting down the culprits one by one. The second film, his daughter is killed and he repeats the process. All five are variations on this theme. It is unfortunate that Bronson's name became associated with these violent films, as his acting talents were wasted on these mediocre roles and screenplays.

After a 1998 hip replacement, Bronson essentially retired. His health deteriorated, and he suffered from Alzheimer's in his final years. He died from pneumonia in 2003 at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, aged 81.